Doctor Who_ The Hollow Men - Keith Topping [9]
„I‟m twenty, for goodness‟ sake,‟ exclaimed Nicola suddenly.
„I can look after myself.‟
„Then act your age and stop sulking.‟
Nicola Denman recoiled as if struck. Her father glanced up and saw that her eyes were swollen and red, as if on the verge of tears.
„I‟m sorry,‟ he said.
„It‟s OK,‟ replied Nicola. „I just hate travelling.‟
„Remember that holiday on the Isle of Man?‟ asked Denman. „You must have been about eight.‟ He stared at the countryside that passed, a blur through the carriage window.
„You were so bored. Your mother and I were at our wits‟
end...‟
Denman gave Nicola‟s hand a pat of reassurance, but she withdrew it quickly. You made me behave by threatening me with Jack i‟ the Green.‟ She paused for a moment, but the giddying momentum of her words carried her on. „You said that Jack took all the bad little girls to Hexen Bridge to do terrible things to them.‟
Denman‟s face was like thunder. „You mark me well, Nicola Denman,‟ he said. „The last thing I need right now is mockery.‟
„I was just saying -‟ she replied, but was cut short.
„Well, don’t,’ he snapped. „This reunion is important.‟ He stared out of the window again. „We‟ve been trapped by the past for too long.‟
The library was a modern slab of a building, coloured concrete offset by large windows and an overfussy entrance.
It stood, awkwardly, halfway between its former location in the centre of the town and the new estate that was eating into the green land to the east. As a consequence, only the truly dedicated sought it out, a line of miserable-looking old people passing through to read the newspapers.
„Why are we here, Professor?‟ asked Ace.
„Well, I like books, and...‟ The Doctor affected bafflement at Ace‟s question.
„You know what I mean.‟
„Why,‟ the Doctor shrugged, „does there have to be a reason for everything?‟
„Where you‟re concerned there is,‟ said Ace. She ran a few paces in front of the Doctor, and turned to face him, both hands out in front of her. „Whoa,‟ she said, stopping him in his tracks. „C‟mon. Spill the beans.‟
„Here...‟ The Doctor held out his hand. In it was a crumpled, yellowing piece of card. The writing on it had almost faded , but the top line was still visible: HEXEN BRIDGE SCHOOL REUNION - 14TH JUNE.
„You went to school here?‟ asked Ace, incredulous.
„Not exactly.‟
„Then...‟
„It‟s a long story.‟
„I‟m listening.‟
„Let‟s go inside, and I‟ll tell you.‟
Some stories have no ending, but they all have a beginning.
And in this case, the beginning came when the Doctor, then in his third incarnation, was exploring the area around the Wiltshire village of Devil‟s End, after his defeat of the Daemon, Azal. The Doctor never quite knew what it was that made him take Bessie up the unmarked side road, the same road that, four regenerations later, he and Ace walked along before the intervention of the local milkman. But the Doctor had, and what he found made him curious.
„Perhaps it was the lack of birdsong,‟ he explained to Ace, reaching to right a toddler who had just collapsed, face down, in front of him. The child‟s mother emerged from the romantic fiction section and withdrew the boy without a word of thanks. An expression of fear had tightened the woman‟s soft, pleasant face, and Ace couldn‟t tell if she was afraid of them or of their conversation.
„There‟s certainly a strange, oppressive atmosphere over that village,‟ continued the Doctor at length. „You‟ll see what I mean when we get there.‟
„So that‟s where we‟re going?‟ quizzed Ace.
„That‟s where the battle will be fought,‟ continued the Doctor, using the same image as earlier. „I always meant to return to Hexen Bridge and investigate further, but time never seemed to allow. In fact, it wasn‟t until my exile on this planet had come to an end that the place came to mind again. I was in the area once more. Another spot of bother, just a few miles down